


Can I lay my hands on your skin?

by eternalsession



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Drabbles, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 23:30:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13134465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalsession/pseuds/eternalsession
Summary: A series of four drabbles about four of my favorite characters.





	Can I lay my hands on your skin?

“Looks like there’s going to be rain…”

“A shame,” Eliwood replied, taking his shoes off. “I suppose the picnic will have to wait for the time.”

She did her best to force a smile, but he could tell she was disheartened; it wasn’t every day they got to meet with their friends, with their busy schedules as rulers of nations. Many times, they met on terms of business, so having a no-strings-attached meeting was a joyous occasion. He gave her a smile back, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“There’ll be another day. How about you and I go on a date?”

She gave a surprised look. “In this weather?”

His smile softened, and he extended his arm. “I’m the Marquess of Pherae. Don’t you think there’s more than enough to do in this castle of mine?”

She offered a genuine smile this time, taking his arm in hers. “That would be lovely, my Lord Eliwood.”

\----

Eliwood had often dozed off while sorting through paperwork—while not a lot of it came to his desk, there were some mandates he had to sign, among other things, and it became incredibly time-consuming. Also, boring. There were many a night where he did not return to his bed, fast asleep on his desk. When Ninian found out about this, she visited his office after he had fallen asleep to gaze upon his peaceful, sleeping face, a rare sight for all they had been through.

When morning would come, Allen and Lance (then, knights-in-training) would find Ninian curled up in Eliwood’s lap, both of them sound asleep. One night--

“My lady Ninian, you may find this of use,” Lance said, offering a blanket. She blushed profusely, and didn’t dare meet his eyes, then quietly accepted the offering.

“…thank you, Lance.” Her voice wasn’t any louder than a whisper.

“Think nothing of it,” He returned, continuing his patrol of the hallway. “I wouldn’t want you to catch cold.”

\---

“You two are still at this?” Lyn said, somewhat scoffing.

“Gotta stay on my toes, Lyn. And more importantly,” Hector said, equipping his training gear, consisting of athletic shorts, sneakers, and a sleeveless, water-absorbent shirt. “I’ve gotta keep him on his!”

“You can always join in on the fun, you know,” Eliwood said, putting on a matching outfit. He picked up his wooden sword bag and threw it over his shoulder.

“No thanks,” said Lyn, folding her arms. “It doesn’t feel the same with a wooden sword.”

Hector gave a hearty chuckle and tossed his wooden axe bag over his shoulder. He kept several, as he had a habit of breaking them. Eliwood kept two himself, just in case Hector got too rowdy.

“I’m surprised. I thought you would be all over this!” Eliwood chuckled. She walked over to him and whispered in his ear.

“I am, but after I agreed he kept trying to spar me every time we met, even for business!”

Eliwood laughed even louder. “Alright then, I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

Hector unsheathed an axe from his collection. “Is that so?”

Eliwood did the same, and gestured “come here” with his two forefingers. Hector charged him, leading with a wild swing, which Eliwood effortlessly dodged, then lunged forward with his right. Hector allowed himself to be grazed in order to keep momentum, then raised his knee to Eliwood’s gut, stunning him temporarily. Eliwood tried to regain his bearings, but Hector was right on him. He narrowly avoided an upper-slash, and ducked a wide swing, then retaliated by tackling him, shoulder first. Hector fell back a few spaces, and it gave Eliwood just enough time to regain his senses. Hector smirked, and Eliwood returned one of his own.

“Here I was thinking you were getting soft,” He said, cracking his neck.

“I am! Three months ago you would have tapped out by now!” Eliwood retorted, rolling his shoulders.

They shared a laugh, then Eliwood made the first move, thrusting the same way he did last time, following up with vertical swipe downward. Hector dodged both, then returned a kick of his own. Eliwood faced it head-on, but twisted to the side to remove some of the force in it, returning slash horizontally. Hector couldn’t dodge, and was knocked back a few inches.

“Not bad!”

“There’s more where that came from!”

Hector lead by throwing his axe. Eliwood moved his body like water to avoid it, but by the time he looked back at Hector, he was already poised to drop-kick him. He couldn’t dodge it, so he twisted his body so his non-dominant shoulder would eat the full force of the attack. Hector was quite a heavy man, so it knocked him back a foot or so. Eliwood rolled back to save himself fall damage, but Hector had already retrieved his axe and was ready to fight again. Blood dripped down his chin, and he grinned.

“Looks like you’ve gotten better.”

“You’re lucky you have Marcus to train your knights, Eli.”

“You could just make Oswin do it,” Eliwood and Lyn said at the same time.

He made a sound similar to “geh,” then pointed his axe at Eliwood. “Enough chitchat.”

Eliwood wiped the blood off of his chin. “Let’s go.”

Hector was the first to move again, throwing a diagonal slash upward. Eliwood dodged right. Hector read his move, however, and let his axe fly upward, then threw a right hook, landing right on Eliwood’s chest. His axe fell back into his hand as Eliwood slid backward a few inches, and he coughed up blood. Lyn started to get up, but Hector held his hand out, pausing her. He gave her a look that read “this is par for the course.”

“You’ve definitely gotten better, Hector.”

“Practicing the basics over and over and over again has certainly helped,” he shrugged.

Eliwood jumped forward, leading with a thrust. Hector dodged, but before he could counter, Eliwood was out of sight. He instinctively raised his axe to dodge his left, and their weapons clashed. He threw off a wide swing, but felt only air. Eliwood ducked under the swing, and raised his sword to check his partner, but Hector noticed him in time and grabbed his head and pushed it into the ground. He picked his axe up again and readied his stance, and noticed Eliwood in his face again. Predicting him to duck to the left again, he feinted a swing right, then switched his axe over to his left hand. He found resistance, and when he looked over, his sparring partner had been in front of him, with his axe stopped just short of his throat.

“Guess it’s a draw,” Eliwood said. It took Hector a second to notice the wooden sword pressed against his throat, and when he did he laughed.

“You’re better than I thought, Eli.”

They both dropped their weapons, then bowed to each other. They shared a master who they used to train under, and after every spar, it was tradition to bow to each other out of respect. Lyn rushed to Eliwood’s side.

“Are you alright, Eli?” she fretted. He put a hand on her shoulder.

“I may not be as sturdy as Hector, but this much isn’t enough to put me out,” he said, giving her a toothy grin. Hector wrapped his arm around his shoulders, then laughed a hearty laugh.

“Seriously Eli, I would have never thought you had stopped fighting for months!”

He shrugged. “I still practice with Marcus weekly, sometimes more than once. I have to admit, he’s too easy on me. You’re a beast, Hector.”

“Like I said, a little too much is just enough for me.”

“I can tell,” Lyn said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “It’s like if you’re not the most extra thing on the planet it’s not good enough for you.”

“You pickin’ a fight with me, lady?”

“If you want to call a one-sided smackdown a fight, bring it on, musclehead!”

“You’re on, you half-baked noble!”

“Like you have room to talk!”

Eliwood laughed heartily.

\---

It was around 17:00 on a Thursday afternoon. Their plans for the day had concluded, and Eliwood and Ninian had returned to his private quarters; though they had been dating for quite some time, Eliwood insisted on taking things slowly. He allowed her to stay in his castle, so he could at least provide food and shelter to her, but seemed almost terrified of rushing her or making her uncomfortable. The sky had been darkening for quite some time, and the first drops of rain hit his windows shortly after they had returned. They sat down on a couch facing one of them (Ninian loved the rain), and she leaned into him as she listened to it. After a while, Eliwood began to doze off, and ended up falling asleep in her lap.

He woke up an hour later, rain still pounding at the windows, to the feeling of hands being run through his hair.

“…Ninian?”

“You know, my Lord Eliwood,” she said quietly. “I’m not so fragile. You aren’t rushing me, and I don’t need you to protect me like you do.”

“…I…,” he started, but couldn’t find the words to finish.

“I know you’re looking out for me, my Lord. You can lay your hands on me if you would like.”

“…Eliwood,” he said, sitting up and looking her in her eyes.

“Excuse me, my L-“

“Not, ‘my Lord’. Eliwood. Just Eliwood. We’re equals, Ninian. Treat me as a peer. Mother told me that love is a two-way street, and for the longest I couldn’t parse how to interpret it, but you’ve just answered my questions. If you want something, ask for it, and I’ll do the same.”

She gazed into his eyes for a few moments, then her cheeks flushed a shade of pink. “Eliwood…” she started. “I’d like to keep running my hands through your hair.”

He leaned his head in to oblige, and his face met close to hers. They locked eyes, and came to an unspoken agreement. He rested his forehead on hers for a moment, closing his eyes. Outside, lightning flashed.

He pressed his lips against hers.

**Author's Note:**

> Graduation Air--  
> I wanted to do a series of drabbles for the longest time so i did in this piece (granted theres only 4). I've never been in a fight either all I know about fighting is what i've seen in tv and anime so please go easy on me! let me know if you enjoyed it too! :)
> 
> Also, Merry Christmas!! This one doesn't have a Christmas theme, but this was published about 5 hours from christmas so if you're reading this i hope it is/was grand!


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